The Carolina Hurricanes are your Stanley Cup champions. It’s the kind of sentence that makes New Jersey Devils fans' skin crawl. For years, the Canes and Devils have had this budding rivalry, including the Canes knocking them out of the playoffs in their only two appearances since 2018.
The rivalry doesn’t hold much weight now that the Canes are world champs. They are lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup, something the Devils haven’t done in 23 years. It’s been a lifetime for much of this fanbase since the Devils declared themselves champs, and they just watched one of their rivals do it.
And what’s worse is the Devils have been trying to emulate the Hurricanes’ style for years. Former Devils’ GM Tom Fitzgerald has been adding gritty players on reasonable contracts who play above their heads. Unfortunately, the opposite happens. Oftentimes, you get yourself a player like Ondrej Palat, who is no longer serviceable in the top six. Then, you have to add assets just to get out of that contract.
Sunny Mehta can't make the same mistake with the Hurricanes that Tom Fitzgerald did
The Devils were doing this while the Hurricanes were faltering in the playoffs. Now that this strategy, which includes a heavy analytics approach and a structured defense built on zone exits and shutting down chances, has led to a championship, one might expect the Devils to double down on their approach, just with a more intelligent strategy with Sunny Mehta.
That would be a mistake. While everyone looks at the way the Lightning, Panthers, and Hurricanes play and assumes it’s the grit that gets them to a championship, it’s actually building around the skill and teaching them to play with grit.
Just look at some of the great players on the Canes. Jordan Staal was once a superstar prospect who turned into the best defensive forward in the league. Taylor Hall, the former Devils MVP, came to Carolina and played the exact role they needed of him. The same goes for super-skilled players like Logan Stankoven, K’Andre Miller, Nikolah Ehlers, and Shayne Gostisbehere.
What’s most important is bringing a style that fits the roster, making sure you add players who are open to developing their game around that style, and sticking to it for years. The Devils should be focused on using their speed to grind teams down, hit back when it’s absolutely necessary and the other team doesn’t suspect it, and build on their rush offense. They should not try to slow the game down.
Obviously, this strategy hasn’t worked against the Hurricanes for about a decade, but it’s because they have been doing it in the wrong way. In 2022-23, when the Devils had their one and only great team since Zach Parise left, the Devils went 2-1-1 against their rivals in the regular season. They finished one point behind them for the Metropolitan Division lead.
In the playoffs, they had one day’s rest after beating their biggest rival in a seven-game series. The Hurricanes had five days off after a nothing series with the Capitals. That’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Winning in the NHL takes luck, and luck wasn’t on the Devils’ side that year.
But Fitzgerald completely lost his mind. He started adding players that didn’t make sense for the long-term success of the Devils. That’s part of the reason why the Devils are in the position they are in right now.
Mehta should not make this mistake. And he likely won’t. He not only saw how the Panthers’ dynasty was built, but he had a hand in its development. He’ll take those lessons over the one that brought the Canes a Cup.
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